Photo courtesy of J. Levine, Texas A&M University and The New York Times
We were happy to learn about the benefits of a new drug being tested by researchers that has already helped mice with certain spinal cord injuries to walk again, and now is being tested on dogs with a common spinal cord injury caused by a ruptured disk. According to this article on the Times blog, "Well",
"The new drug works by blocking a protein that becomes abnormally high after a spinal cord injury." Injured mice have shown "a remarkable recovery" if treated within a few hours of the injury.
We didn't realize that short-legged, long-torso breeds like dachshunds were particularly prone to spontaneously ruptured disks -in fact, one in five dachshunds will suffer this type of injury, according to the article.
Texas A&M University plans to test this drug over a two year period, and if the treatment proves effective, scientists will move to human trials in a few years. We'll be interested to see the results of this study...but did you notice? As usual, we dogs are helping humans in yet another endeavor-we got your back, folks!
8 comments:
Oh Bocci, thank you, thank you furs dis information. We has not heard bout it befores and since we all be doxies heres it's good to knows. My brudder was paralyzed when he was 4yrs. old from a ruptured disc. They did emergency surgery and he was fine.
Puddles
Nice to meet you!
I thought I had heard (from Dogs 101) that Dachshunds were not prone to back problems despite their shape! I'm glad some doggies will get the benefits of testing some drugs for us people.
It could really helps dogs who has spinal cord problems.
This is wonderful news, Bocci!
Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch
This new drug doesn't only help people but also dogs. This is a wonderful news also for those people have dogs that have spinal cord injuries.
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This drug is good news for animals. It is helpful to treat their injuries. We should need to treat animals like humans.
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